My Horns, No. 8 - Getzen Capri Cornet

 Latest of a series of blog posts about the various horns I own or have owned in the past - click here for other posts in the series.

There are a few reasons why a trumpet/cornet player may want to have more than one horn of a particular type in their quiver - it could be that they like to play around with the different timbres produced by manufacturing differences, or they could be a collector and enjoy owning little pieces of history. If one plays a lot, it is wise to have what many call a "back-up" horn, so that if or when your main horn is out of action for any reason, you don't have a mad scramble to find another horn to play, that you may not be used to.

If you are a brass-band player, there may be another reason that you might like an extra cornet - marching. Personally, I don't like taking my Olds Ambassador A6 marching, as opportunities for damage abound outdoors and in crowds, so I always like to have a "marching" cornet on hand - good, cheaper, and less stressful to carry around with me. Which is where my Getzen Capri comes in. Purchased second hand by me, after being refurbished by the previous owner, it fitted my needs perfectly - cheap, good quality, and wouldn't break my heart if it got damaged.

Getzen is one of the few American companies that has managed to break into the British brass band world, with their Eterna and 3850 models popping up now and again in the hands of cornet players. The Capri is marketed as an intermediate model, and one sees it now and then in the hands of students, and better players too (I know of at least one principal cornet in a good band who uses one as his main horn). Getzen has a long history as a family-owned company (there are lots of twists and turns in the history of Getzen, which I won't go into here), and the Capri cornet has been one of their mainstay instruments for some time.

For a cornet, the Capri has a small bore of 0.460", and in fact the entire cornet is on the compact side - suitable for the smaller hands of students - so if you have big hands it's a tight fit. Like most American cornets, the sound is on the bright side - no Besson wooliness here - which is a bonus for my needs when marching, where that brightness and sizzle is what's required. Marketed as an intermediate horn, the Capri comes equipped with a first slide trigger only, with the standard finger ring for the third valve slide. Given its tight wrap, there is no trouble manipulating either the trigger or the finger ring - if I had a criticism, it would be that the throw of the first valve trigger is not enough for all tuning eventualities, but again, for the use I'm putting it to, not a problem.

As always with Getzen, the valves are amazing. Stainless steel, and almost too quick. I'm a player that likes to "slam" the valves, and the super slick action of the Capri sometimes catches me out. This of course could be changed with some stiffer springs. Having stated that, these are some of the best valves I've ever encountered.

For me, used to larger bore cornets, it can be easy to over-blow on the Getzen: this may have something to do with my choice of mouthpiece (Curry 3BBC), which has a wider throat and backbore - something a little smaller and tighter might suit the Capri better.

Overall though, I can highly recommend the Capri as a cornet worth hunting out if you are a student looking to step up, someone who wants to go brass-banding but doesn't want to break the bank or, like me, looking for a good quality back up to your main horn.